Although they are applicable to any fiber composite material and any components, the present disclosure and the set of problems on which it is based are described in greater detail with reference to carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics materials (CFRP) and large components, for example fuselage parts of an aircraft or spacecraft.
At present, large CFRP components are generally manufactured using automated fiber placement (AFP) technology. For this purpose, very large-scale systems are required. This generally involves a laying robot running suspended on a gantry, comprising a fiber placement head or tape laying head which lays fibers on a shaping tool, for example the cast of a fuselage portion of an aircraft or spacecraft.
An approach to a fiber laying device differing from systems of this type is described in DE 20 2011 110 519 U1. A rail system is provided comprising a number of rails and a plurality of laying robots which are movable on the rail system along the rails. The laying robots and the rail system are controlled by a central master computer.